


What You Call Magic

by viklikesfic (v_angelique)



Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Kink Meme, M/M, Rituals, Romance, Spiritual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-04
Updated: 2010-02-04
Packaged: 2017-10-07 01:16:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,386
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/59811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/v_angelique/pseuds/viklikesfic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As a newly bonded pair taking shore leave on New Vulcan, Spock introduces Jim to an ancient water ritual.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What You Call Magic

They've been on New Vulcan for several days when Spock takes Jim to a building far from the new settlements, carved into a mountainside at the edge of a vast expanse of land. They enter the wooden structure on the lower of two levels, following a corridor lined with ornate sconces deeper into the bowels of the mountain and ending up in a simple room, furnished with a bed.

"Spock? Where are we?" 

"There was an ancient building on Vulcan," Spock speaks as he removes his black shirt, folding it neatly with his back to Jim. "Far from civilization, carved into a mountain at the edge of the desert. It looked like an old temple, from the days before reform, but no one really knew or cared what it was. It had fallen into disuse. In fact, the building was a kind of temple, and it had a particular significance, which my counterpart relayed to me recently."

Jim raises his eyebrows and sits on the edge of the bed. "His counterpart" is what Spock has taken to calling the older Spock, the one who lives here. "Are you going to tell me what that significance is?"

"Indeed." Spock sits on the bed next to Jim to remove his boots, looking at his lover only for a moment before turning his focus to the task. "In ancient times, there were rare occurrences of bonded pairs of Vulcan men, always found among the wisest elders. The bond between these wise men was considered particularly intense, and had a religious importance to the people of Vulcan. Shortly after bonding, these men would come to this temple and engage in a deeply erotic, deeply symbolic spiritual ritual. Only the men and a priest would be present, but the details of the ritual were preserved, if not often read by modern Vulcans. The practice involved the ritual use of water, a substance whose rarity echoed the rarity of such a pairing. The practice intensified the bond between the men involved and was said to invoke a sort of magic, as humans would call it. It has died out entirely in modern times."

"So... why build a new temple?" Jim asks, frowning a little as Spock stands and removes his pants. 

Spock smiles slightly at the question, just a quirk of the lips that Jim has come to recognize since their bonding. "Apparently the temple, and the ritual, have a particular significance to my counterpart. He rebuilt the temple using the ancient techniques, and educated me on the details of the ritual. I would like to ask you to take part in it with me."

"Really? Wait, you mean you consider two of us equivalent to your culture's ancient wise men? How modest."

Another quirk of the lips. "Hardly. But although sexual relations between Vulcan men are not unheard of, I am the first man of Vulcan descent to form a bonded pair with another man since those times." Jim raises his eyebrows. He didn't know this. "It is likely due to my human blood that I can form such a bond. My counterpart believes that the ritual may work with you and I as it did with the ancients."

"And you want to try?"

"I do."

"I'm... honored." Jim turns serious, taking Spock's hands in his own and brushing their fingers together in a kiss. "Where do we start?"

~*~

The first forty-eight hours are spent in a kind of fast. They consume no food, and as their bodies empty they drink a sweet Vulcan liquor with an unpronounceable name, a substance that is sustaining but makes Jim feel as if he is drugged. They lie together naked in the bed for the duration of this period of time, and as the hours pass a kind of fever falls over Jim. He feels an intense fear, and at the same time a feeling that he cannot protect himself, that someone is coming for him. Rather than his usual stubborn independence, he clings to Spock, trying to hide himself behind his lover's body, watching the door with restless eyes, and Spock holds him close and whispers gentle words, promising in Standard and Vulcan to protect Jim, not to let harm come to him, never to leave him. 

On the third day, that all-consuming fear fades, and they ascend a curving flight of stairs to the second level, to a small room with a roaring fire in the center. They sit in this room for perhaps an hour, until they are sweating profusely, and then Spock lifts two large, soft cloths from a shelf and they dry one another thoroughly, each wiping the sweat from the other's body. In the next room they find themselves at the edge of a pool, looking out over the country. It is a beautiful vista, and Jim takes a moment to take it in before he observes the room itself. It is a long rectangle, the one open side at the far end, and the pool taking up most of the space. The pool spans the entire width of the room, so that the only way from where they are standing to the other side is through the water. The water is clear, the floor of the pool marked by colorful designs and archaic Vulcan script that Jim cannot read. The walls of the room are decorated with sconces, and the center of the floor where they stand is marked by a beautiful marble font. Spock leads Jim to the font, and he dips both hands in the water, dripping it on Jim's head, on his face and shoulders and chest in a deliberate pattern as he murmurs Vulcan words under his breath, eyes locked on Jim's the whole time. When he is finished, it is Jim's turn, and he hears the words in his mind through their telepathic bond, whispering them as he drips the water on Spock's head and body in the same way. 

Next, Spock leads Jim to a step at the edge of the pool, a sort of elevated shelf above the water line with words written on it in that same archaic Vulcan script. He helps Jim to lay down on his back, and then he dips both hands into the water, disturbing the still surface. With cupped hands, he pours a thin stream of water over Jim's balls and flaccid penis, up his stomach, through the center of his chest, over his neck and face and into his hair. The last of the water he lets drip into Jim's open mouth, just a few drops. Jim is beginning to feel light headed and aroused as Spock gently rolls him onto his stomach, repeating the ritual with another double handful of water. This time, he starts at the top of Jim's head and pours the water over Jim's neck, following the line of his spine. He stops at the small of Jim's back, where the water pools, and then he bends and drags his tongue through the water there, following the crease of Jim's ass and finishing at his perineum. His tongue never stabs inside, and Jim whimpers softly, but never has such a simple touch been so arousing. He feels _alive_ as Spock slides off the shelf and into the water, receiving Jim into his arms and cradling him like a baby. Jim's head floats in the water, and Spock smoothes a gentle hand over his forehead before letting Jim down to his feet, the water coming only chest-high in the pool. Then he moves his fingers to the psi-points, and Jim leaves himself.

It's as if he's exploding, and his body cannot contain all the light and color and sound and movement, the pure ecstacy he feels in this moment. There is music, like harps and angels singing, in a language he understands not mentally but instinctively. He is held aloft in some pleasure he cannot physically feel, for he is removed from his body, but feels instead in his very soul. And all the time he is Spock, he is himself, he is neither of them but both of them. When he wakes he is shivering and weeping, and his lover is by his side, Jim's head cradled in his hands. He blinks up at Spock, trying to turn to see the pool he has apparently left, but Spock's hands direct his head the other way, to look out over the land. The sun is setting. 

"T'hy'la," Spock whispers. "Ashayam."

Jim clings tightly to him, and Spock lifts him as if he were no heavier than a child, carrying him down another curving set of stoned steps and back into the lower floor of the building. 

~*~

"You didn't fuck me," Jim says suddenly, after they've consumed a quantity of Vulcan savory pies and sweet pastries. After the ritual, he's famished, and he can't stop touching Spock. "Or rim me, even. Why not?"

Spock raises an eyebrow. "Was your pleasure insufficient?"

"Of course not. That was the best sex of my _life_. But why doesn't the ritual involve... you know. Fucking?"

"I do not believe that the penetration of one partner by the other was common among ancient same-sex pairings, Jim. There were other means."

"Okay. I'm not knocking it, believe me. That blew my mind."

A small smile from Spock. "Would you like me to explain the ritual?"

"Please."

"Very well. The ritual begins with the cleansing fast. The substance we consumed both provides sustenance and triggers the second phase of the ritual. It will only work with a bonded pair. The second phase is something of a test, an opportunity to face lingering fears."

"Oh," Jim says softly. "I didn't like that part."

"Your conviction that you were in danger, and that you needed my protection, likely was brought about by your fear of relinquishing control, of needing another person. You had to face that fear and accept dependence on me in order to proceed to the next phase."

"Oh. So I passed?"

"You did."

"What was your fear?"

Spock frowns. "The fear of not being _able_ to protect the ones I love."

Jim kisses him silently. "And the next phase?"

"The sweating and the drying symbolises not only cleansing but sacrifice. We drain the water from our bodies so that we can accept the water in the next phases. It also is a symbol of trust, a willingness to sacrifice and trust that one's partner will provide renewal. Then is the blessing, which normally would have been performed by a priest. This is the principal religious element, a commitment to one another and to faith in something outside the self. The following phase begins the renewal, symbolized by the application of water by one partner to the other. The words on the shelf where you lay read, in the ancient tongue, 'when the water of life leaves us, the water of love shall sustain us.' These words refer to the commitment of the partners to one another even beyond death. The unbroken circle of water I laid on your body stands both for harmony and for eternity. The dripping of water into the mouth symbolizes my commitment to provide for you. The final phase, the meld, symbolizes the journey the lovers make through pleasure, crossing the pool without awareness. It was understood in ancient times that a bond pair must be able to cross the pool without physical awareness, through pleasure, in order to ensure eternal love in this life and beyond. At the end of the ritual, the pair would look out towards the sun, symbolizing emergence from the past life before the ritual, in the dark of the mountain, to life as a blessed pair, under the light of the sun. The pair then must return to the space below and not look again on the sacred room, which is built at the highest point.""Wow," Jim says quietly, for it's all he really _can_ say. 

"Indeed."

Jim smiles and slides closer on the bed, wrapping his arms and his legs around Spock, pressing their entire bodies together. "I love you."

"And I you, t'hy'la."

~*~

"Hey," Jim says softly, seeing movement in the corridor. He's dressed in loose white clothing, barefoot, and Spock has left the room for some reason, but after three days Jim can bear it again. It's not Spock that appears in the doorway, or at least not Jim's Spock, but his older counterpart. "Oh. Hi."

"Hello, Jim."

"Why did you build it?" Jim asks, getting to his feet and approaching the Vulcan. "It must have been incredibly difficult."

Spock smiles. "I did not engage in the physical labor alone."

"All right. But why?"

Spock tilts his head to the side. "The ritual had great importance to me in my world."

"You did it?"

Spock nods.

"Wait... with _me_?"

Spock smiles. "With a version of you. Yes."

"Oh. Wow. You mean... wow. Do you miss him?"

"No."

Jim frowns. "You're telling me... you went through _that_, and you don't _miss_ him?"

"To miss Jim Kirk would be illogical. He is a part of me, just as your Spock is now a part of you. He died, but he did not leave me."

"Oh," Jim says quietly, turning that over in his head.

"I could not deprive you of this ritual anymore than I could have refused to help you on Delta Vega, Jim. It is an essential part of what you and Spock are, of what you will be. When I learned that you had bonded, I knew the temple had to be reconstructed. Consider it... a wedding present."

"But... wow. So you and the other me were..." He breaks into a grin. "Damn. It's destiny."

"All such pairings are destined," Spock counters. "This one no more than any other."

"Still."

"I wish you peace and long life, Jim. May you take what you have found in this place and carry it with you throughout your days."

Jim just nods, and watches as he leaves. The younger Spock returns, and Jim holds him in the bed, head tucked against Spock's shoulder. "We'll have to leave soon."

"We will."

"I don't think I'll ever really leave this place," Jim says softly. Spock brushes his lips over Jim's hair. 

"No," he agrees. "Nor will I."


End file.
